Antenna on Extended Battery CoverGeneral

My extended battery cover has a really short (small) antenna which has created a discernable difference in my reception when I use that one instead of the OEM battery and case back. Is there any way to make this antenna longer, larger or just get better reception?

Back in the day, when we had televisions with rabbit ear antennas, we could put aluminum foil on them to get better reception. You think that would work on a cell phone?

All sorts of lenths of extra antenna have been attempted, but no real improvement in signal strength.
Part of the problem is when you look at the wavelength of the signals we are trying to improve, you have two different ranges. One for cell radio and one for data. There is no ideal antenna length to maximize the reception for both at the same time. The length of the antenna should be half the wavelength-length, or some factor of it for ideal reception. Just making it longer most likely will degrade your signal on one or both bands, and could potentially cause damage to your receiver. Larger lengths of antenna (especially exposed) are also susceptile to static charges which could be devastating to your phone.
If you think about it, HTC probably made your antenna about as good as they could. Software updates are our only hope (besides powered receivers).

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(I know we aren't talking about the HTC back here. Maybe you could try to match it?)